Tag: Henry Cejudo

The main card of UFC 211 features two top level flyweights, each of whom could be considered for a title challenge with a few more good wins. While Henry Cejudo may have already had his crack at glory, Sergio Pettis is looking to throw his card into the Demetrious Johnson sweepstakes (a prize that I’m not sure anyone truly wants to win at this point). This fight has a lot riding on it for both fighters and it’s good to see it opening up the main card for one of the more stacked events of the year (good job UFC, keep this up and people may end up caring about flyweight).

Following a 15-month absence from the sport that saw him basically break every traffic law known to man, former/still-sort-of-current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones returned to the ring on Saturday to take on heated rival Daniel CormierOvince St. Preux for the coveted interim LHW belt, because f*ck it, we’re just giving out interim titles to everyone now! (begins Oprah-style “And YOU get an interim belt!” chant*)

As you might expect, Jones looked every bit as dominant as he always has — outgunning OSP on the feet, the mat, and even throwing some fancy spinning sh*t in there — while still displaying some signs of a man who has spent more of the past year in the court than he has in the cage. If you’re the MMA media, this can only mean one thing: Jon Jones has lost it.

The guy who literally broke his opponent’s arm with a kick in the second round? That wasn’t a guy who would have had a chance at beating Daniel Cormier, according to all theleadingexperts (chief among whom happens to be, you guessed it, Daniel Cormier). I’m not sure if Cormier would still be injured in the fantasy scenario that we so often like to peddle as “analysis” or even “news” here in the MMA game, but the moral here is that Jon Jones got very lucky on Saturday night. Because REASONS.

After the jump: We break down the rest of UFC 197 with takes hot enough to melt steel.

Which begs the question: Why mess with a good thing? Why not see how far you can get at bantamweight before putting your career and health at risk once again chasing 125? From what we can gather, Cejudo’s TKO win over flyweight super-jobber Miguelito Marti at Gladiator Challenge: American Dream in May 2013 was the only time that Cejudo has ever successfully made 125 pounds in an MMA fight. And now he’s going to try again, God help him, while taking a gigantic step up in competition against one of the top ten flyweights in the world. What?

After a plain bizarre string on no-shows, weigh-in flubs and general flakiness, it looks like we might finally see 2008 Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo step foot into the octagon (but probably not).

Not many of us saw Cejudo’s signing with the UFC coming when it was announced back in July. When it was simultaneously announced that Cejudo would be facing Scott Jorgensen — an upper-level fighter in any weight class — at flyweight — a weight which Cejudo had failed to make in both of his previous appearances in Legacy FC — we were all but guaranteed a weigh-in day fiasco from the former Olympian.

His flyweight career over before it ever began, Cejudo was forced to move up to bantamweight by Dana White himself and now has his UFC debut booked for realzies this time. Find out who he’ll be facing after the jump.

In case you’ve been away from the Internet for the last few days: The main event of UFC 177 was supposed to be bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao–an unnecessary rematch of their bout from May. Barao botched his weight cut, which caused him to fall and hit his head in the shower. He was rushed to the hospital and couldn’t fight. Weight cutting is a serious health issue, but Dana White and the UFC apparently don’t care.

Insults to the ego are one thing, insults to the wallet are another. The former is naught but the buzzing of flies, but the latter stings like Head and Shoulders in the eye. Renan Barao will probably get over Joe Rogan essentially calling him an embarrassment to himself and the UFC. But will Barao get over Dana White refusing to pay him his show money? Because that’s what Dana White is doing. He’s not paying Barao.

Far be it from us to knock an Olympic wrestler for his lack of work ethic, but we’ve begun to notice an alarming and depressing trend in the MMA career of Henry Cejudo. Mainly, that he has more or less flaked out of his last four scheduled fights under the Legacy Fighting Championships banner, and even worse, the fights he actually did show up for in that time, he did at a significantly reduced payrate due to his inability to make weight.

Could it be that Cejudo has some dire life circumstance to tend to, like Rousimar Palhares and his sick mother? It’s possible, but the much more likely scenario is that Cejudo lacks either the time or the commitment to make 125 lbs, even as far out from the fight as he is, and has withdrawn in a last ditch attempt to save his rapidly descending reputation in the MMA world.

As the youngest Olympic wrestling gold-medalist in U.S. history, Henry Cejudo kicked off his MMA career last year with a ton of hype behind him. And so far he’s lived up to it, winning five straight fights including four by first-round stoppage. But Cejudo has hit a rough patch lately due to weight and “illness” (which might just be a code-word for “weight”).

In November, Cejudo no-showed the weigh-ins for Legacy FC 25, where he was scheduled to compete in the co-main event against Saul Elizondo. According to his manager, Cejudo was suffering from nausea and light-headedness, and was later diagnosed with a stomach flu. The fight against Elizondo was scrapped.

Yesterday, Cejudo showed up late to the weigh-ins for tonight’s Legacy FC 27 card at Houston’s Arena Theatre — where he’ll be facing 4-0 prospect Elias Garcia — and hit the scales at 128.5 pounds for the flyweight contest. As a result, Cejudo has forfeited half of his fight-purse, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation is expected to suspend him between 90 and 180 days for being a late arrival to weigh-ins.

Cejudo has had no problem outclassing his opponents at bantamweight in the past, and his drop to flyweight seems somewhat unnecessary, at least at this stage of his career. While a 90-day suspension wouldn’t make a difference to your average UFC fighter, Cejudo fought at a breakneck frequency last year in order to build experience; for him, a three-month suspension might actually sting. It’s a tough break — but perhaps a good indication that 135 is where he belongs right now.

We’ll start with Fallon Fox, just to get her out of the way. Despite the publicity she’s received, Fox isn’t what you might call a “good” fighter. Her opponents thus far have been terrible, and the supposed advantage she possesses from being transgender is looking tenuous at best after her appearance at Championship Fighting Alliance 12 in Coral Gables, Florida on Saturday. Although Fox had her moments in the first round, her opponent Ashlee Evans-Smith ramped up the pressure in the second and it paid dividends. Smith, in just her second professional fight, managed to take Fox down and almost finish her in the second round before the bell sounded. There was some controversy, as the crowd was so enthusiastic (“virulently transphobic” could also work here) that it was unclear at what point the bell had rung and whether the fight had been stopped. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Evans-Smith simply repeated the process in the third round, putting Fox away with punches from the mount position.